Improvement in process for separating the fiber



I lent machinery,

` lis left a considerable `ually `and liber, perfected the UNITED-Tatras,

THOMAS ROSE AND ROBERT EMERSON GIBSON, OF EARLSTOWN, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRcEss FOR AsEPAIi/ITING THE FIBERIFROM YTHE IIusK INCOTTON-COATED y y y I I SEEDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 105.729, dated July 26,1870.

I To all 'whom it Imay concern:

'whereby others will be I enabled to carry our` invention intopractice-that is to say:` I

When cotton-seed ofthe description knownl I as coated seed 7 has beenbroken upby themachinery for which we obtainedLetters Patentof theUnited Statesof America, dated the 27th July, A. D. 1869, No.` 93,124,or by any equivaand the meal oroil-yielding sifted out or separated,there proportion` of the gross it leaves .the cotton-gin,

portion has been weight of the seed as consisting of the husks `and'adhering fiber. I These havenot hitherto been utilized in anymanufacture; anditistheobiect of our present invention, as is indicatedin the title, to separate the ber from the husks, and obtain it inv acondition serviceable for paper-making and l 1 for other purposes.

7e` have `ascertained after lengthened research and costly experimentsthat, unless the y or nearly altogether, -separatedi'rom the bersuchfiberlcamljot be .i

husks0 are altogether,

satisfactorily utilized even in paper-making. lVe have,

therefore, for the purpose of ei'ecteconomically separating the saidment, and also an engine for facilitating the operation, for whichwehave applied for Letters Patent simultaneously with this.

By our treatment we obtain the fiber by it` Selfin a fit st-ate formaking paper of `tine.

quality, and also forother manufacturing uses to which cotton-fiber ofshort staple is applicable. I

I Our saidmeans or process consists, essen- I tially, in subjecting thehuskand ribermate-L rial as itleavcs the sifting mechanism, or ai'- ter4such material has been treated with an alkali or alkalis and heat andmoisture tolooseu the husks, as hereafter appears, to the action of acurrentof watercoutained in or passing through any suitable vessel. Thepur the Husk of Cotton-Coated Lfor receiving present 'process oftreatwater. If it is to be converted into paper, it

is pulped, bleached, and prepared in any ordinarymanner. If itis tobeIused in any other manufacture, it is treated asl circumstances mayrequire. Y I y The engine, which we have made the subject, as abovestated, of a separate application forLetters Patent, consists,esentially, of ce1'- tain improvements upon, or additions to, a

a er-makers"washin -en ine-orrac-en 'ine of yD P 4 s such a nature that4the speed of the current of water therein is greatly accelerated, andpro- I vision ismade for collecting and withdrawing the husks bythemselves.`

The accompanying drawing is a longitudinal section thereof.

n the figure j is achamber or receptacle the husks. k is aperforatedcover through which the husks pass when the ber is thoroughly removedfrom them.- l is adischarge-way for h'usks, and cis a dischargeway forwater and fiber. i

NVe charge the containing vessel with water to within three or four,inches from thc/cop, and having arranged the roll e to run at about twohundred revolutions a minute give lnotionI thereto. A large quantity ofwater is raised by the roll, but the curved plate h intercepts the waterand returns it between the directing-plateiand cover g to the tail end,and Ahence largely increases the ow. I n au engine of the size shown,with a charge of two hundred and twenty-four pounds of husk and fibermaterial, the roll running about two hundred revolutions per minute, thewhole charge of water and materialwould be driven roundthe engine fromtwoP to three tunes a minute. It will be obvious the tearing or Iopening action of the beater accelerates the separation of the ber fromthe husks.

`Motion can be given tothe water 1u any convenient manner, but we preferto employ this engine. We consider it important ,to maintain the currentat a speed of from forty to sixty feet a minute.l

Although the action of the current of .water is the feature whereby theseparation is e'ectively accomplished, 'we, in practice, as means,

which it is discharged and subjected to the Instead of a action ofacurrent of water. revolving boiler a closed vessel provided withstirrers or agitators may be used.

With husk and ber material from Smyrna and East India seed, we rst boilit in water, preferably with a few pounds of soda; then subject it tothe action of a current of wat-er to separate the inner husks. We nexttreat the material, which now consists of the ber and outer husks, to'the action of caustic soda, heat, and moisture in the proportions aboveset forth for material from Americanand African seeds.

Having now described the nature of our said invention and the manner ofcarrying the same -into practice, we would have it disof water, for thepurpose of separating the ber from the husks, substantially as hereinset forth.

2. subjecting the said husks and ber, prcvious to placing them in theseparating' current of water, to the action of an alkali with heat andmoisture, forthe purpose of loosening the husks, substantially asspeeilied.

3. subjecting the said husks and ber first A to the action ot boilingwater with or without an alkali; second, to a current of water toseparate the inner husks third, to the action of an alkali with heat andmoisture; and, finally, to a second current of water to separate the ber'from the outer husks7 substantially as specified.

In testimonyvwhereof we have hereunto set our names in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS ROSE. ROBERT EMERSON GIBSON.

Witnesses:

J. T. KING, R. A. Moss.

